Browns notebook: Cleveland once had an unbeaten season, too

Nobody talks about Cleveland’s unbeaten team, but there was one, and it rocked the foundation of the early NFL. The 1948 Browns went 14-0 in the regular season and won their league title game, 49-7.

Steve Doerschuk

Nobody talks about Cleveland’s unbeaten team, but there was one, and it rocked the foundation of the early NFL.
The 1948 Browns went 14-0 in the regular season and won their league title game, 49-7.
The achievement is dismissed because it happened in the All-America Football Conference. It was a big-city autumn league sniffed at by the one whose initials were NFL.
The 49ers were loaded with talent and became the Browns’ biggest AAFC rival.
Cleveland’s closest calls in 1948 came in two games against the Niners. It’s hard to say the game meant nothing, in that 82,769 saw the Browns beat San Francisco at Cleveland.
The Browns would have been undefeated again in 1949 had they not lost at San Francisco. They avenged the loss in the AAFC title game, beating the 49ers, 21-7.
The league disbanded with Cleveland having won all four championships. Both the 49ers and Browns jumped to the NFL in 1950.
After the Browns went 12-2 with a win in the 1950 championship game, the sniffing stopped.
The story is not lost on New England Head Coach Bill Belichick. His coaching inspiration was his father, the late Steve Belichick.
The father lived to see all three of Bill’s three “world championships.”
Steve, in turn, said at Super Bowls that his inspiration was Paul Brown, head coach of the undefeated 1948 Browns.
At one Super Bowl, Steve Belichick told The Repository the Super Bowl trophy should be named after Brown, not Vince Lombardi.
BACK TO BUILD ON?
Jamal Lewis, who won a Super Bowl as a Ravens rookie in 2000, is a main reason the Browns went from 4-12 without him to the cusp of the playoffs.
“This year is definitely a stepping stone for this organization,” he said.
“I think there will be a lot of good years to come.”
But will he have even one more year as a Brown? He is in limbo on a one-year contract, uncertain whether Sunday will mark his last game as a Brown.
“Wait one more game, then let everything stack up,” he said.
Lewis needs 23 yards against the 49ers to become the 26th NFL player to rush for at least 9,000 yards. He has 1,176 yards in 2007, his sixth season of passing the 1,000-yard mark.
“I’ve met most of my goals,” Lewis said. “Close ... close.”
ON DAISHER
Special teams coordinator Ted Daisher thinks the Browns can do some damage if they reach the playoffs.
“I have a lot of confidence with our team in general right now,” he said Friday. “I think we’re going to go out and play well this week.
“If we get into the playoffs, whoever we play, I think that we’ll compete. I think we’re a dangerous team because we have playmakers on offense, our defense gets better every week, and our special teams ... we’re dangerous.”
FOOT-AND-BACK FACTOR
A back problem that has bothered Dave Zastudil all season shows up in his punting numbers.
When Zastudil was sidelined, replacement Scott Player averaged 45.6 yards on 13 punts, with a strong 40.3 factoring in return yardage.
Zastudil’s averages are 41.5 and 33.7 on 44 punts.
“Dave hurt his back, and he has struggled some since,” Daisher said. “But we have total confidence in Dave. He’s a very good punter and hopefully will be here to punt for a long time.”
EXTRA POINTS
- Phil Dawson needs a field goal and an extra point to set a Browns record for points in a season by a kicker. With 112 points, he trails Lou Groza and Matt Stover. He’ll hear from his old buddy Stover, a fellow alumnus of Dallas Lake Highlands High School.
- The Browns have won six straight at home, dating to a loss to Pittsburgh. Bill Belichick’s 1994 Browns were like Romeo Crennel’s 2007 crew, losing the home opener to the Steelers
Reach Canton Repository sports writer Steve Doerschuk at (330) 580-8347 or steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com.

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